Gary Glitter trial: Former singer accused of attempting to rape schoolgirl

The attack allegedly took place in the mid-1970s

Gary Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, arrives at Southwark Crown Court (Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Former glam rock singer Gary Glitter crept into a schoolgirl's bed and tried to rape her at the height of his fame, a court heard today.

The child, who was aged under ten at the time, escaped being attacked because she moved away from the singer until she became wrapped in a “cocoon” of blankets, before she fled when the drunken pop star fell asleep, the jury at Southwark Crown court heard today.

The singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, had attempted to force himself on the girl in the mid-1970s, prosecutor John Price QC, said in his opening statements.

He added: “She only managed to prevent him from succeeding by moving away from him in the bed until she had moved so far, they she remembers she fell into the 'envelope' or 'cocoon' formed at the edge of the bed by the fact that the covers and blankets had been tucked beneath the mattress.”

The woman, who was aged under 10 at the time, claims that after the attack Gadd fell asleep, when she ran into a bathroom and attempted to clean herself, the court heard.

The day after the attack, Gadd behaved as if nothing had happened, and offered the girl chocolate, said Mr Price.

Although Gadd’s alleged victim told her mother and friends of the attack, she waited 20 years before she told police of her claims after she saw that Gadd had admitted child pornography charges in 1999, the court heard. She hoped the revelations offered a better chance “that she might be believed when accusing so famous and popular a man of so dreadful a crime,” Mr Price said.

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Gary Glitter appearing at Southwark Crown Court in London (PA) (Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)

Mr Price told the jury that if they do not believe the defendant committed attempted rape during the incident, they can convict him of indecent assault, adding that the girl did not have a capacity to consent to such an act.

It is also alleged that some years after the attempted rape, Glitter summoned the girl into a bedroom and asked her to give him a “cuddle”.

Mr Price said that she hugged the singer “quickly and awkwardly” but he then “rolled her on to her back on the bed” and she “felt frightened” and said no, before leaving the room.

The jury was also told that Gadd was arrested in November 1997 when he went to pick up a laptop he had given to a Bristol PC World, after an engineer discovered a “large number” of images related to child pornography on the machine.

Glitter subsequently admitted responsibility for the images being on his computer, which depicted a full range of sexual activity taking place between men and very young children.

When the former chart-topper was arrested in connection with the allegations against the young girl, he denied any wrongdoing through his solicitor.

Glitter is accused of one count of attempted rape and another of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 13 in 1975.

In relation to a second complainant, he is charged with four counts of indecent assault when she was under the age of 13 in 1977.

He is also accused of plying the girl with alcohol with the intention to “stupefy or overpower” her to have sex with him between January and May 1977.

And Glitter faces one charge of unlawful intercourse with a girl aged under 13 between the same dates in relation to the same girl.

In connection with a third complainant, who was under the age of 16, he is charged with two counts of indecent assault between October 1979 and December 1980.

Glitter is also accused of molesting two “young fans” whom he met while touring the country.

In each case, the girls are said to have first met the singer in his dressing room after a concert that their mothers took them to.

The similarities stretched to each girl initially being introduced to Glitter in the presence of her mother, and the mother then being persuaded to leave her daughter alone with him, jurors heard.

Glitter found fame in the 1970s as part of the glam rock scene, scoring number one hits with I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am), I Love You Love Me Love and Always Yours.

Gadd, from Marylebone in central London, denies seven counts of indecent assault, one count of attempted rape, and two other sexual offences.

Additional reporting by PA